Scorecard

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham XI- Wednesday v Sutton Courtenay on Thu 23 Aug 2012 at 5.50pm
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Won by 47 runs

Match report Mighty Trouts defeat Sutton Courtenay to go Joint Top

Thatcham Mighty Trouts joined Cold Ash on 31 league points – 5 more than nearest rivals Woolly Badgers – but remain second on net run rate. The Trouts will have to wait till the AGM to see whether a league reshuffle, which is thought likely owing to fewer teams in Div 1 and 2, as well as the withdrawal from the league of Bradfield, will result in Town going up to Div 2. Not only will Div 2 present new challenges to the youngsters, but it will mean new village grounds visited that none of us have ever been to. So fingers crossed.
Firstly the visitors were very generous to travel down to us twice in 8 days, not only that but they turned up on time to enable Town to bat first as if it were an away fixture. Opening batters Cheesy Wotsit and James O’Connor had a small partnership before the Cheddar Gorge was caught for 2. Willo (19), Rochy (22) and Rishto (30) all had quick cameos with strike rates >200 but all got out, with Walker claiming 3/25. And once Jack Young was dismissed early, U15 O’Connor was left to marshall the lower order batsman toward a good total that at one point looked liked being >200. But Nandy (3-0-11-2) put paid to that with possibly the most economical bowling figures I’ve seen all season, supported by Hilles (2/24).
Marcus Gainall batted valiantly but when he was dismissed as well as O’Connor (for a steady 20), a rare batting opportunity was presented to regular Tom Allison, as well as the returning prodigy Tom Owen (aka Tommy Torres the £50m Man). The pair would go on to dominate the last 3 overs, Allison (14*) with a couple of mighty blows over the top much to the delight of his old man (“he only has 1 shot!”) and Fernando (16*) with some well timed strokes as next batting hopeful Ben Denton-Powell watched forlornly from the boundary rope.
With already-dismissed senior players Rochy, Wylie and Willo all seen to have a beer in hand mid-game, the onlooking Chris Bird noted his disapproval. Perhaps he has a point, but as Bar Manager perhaps he should be applauding new ways to drink more beer at the club and increase his takings. The dragons on Dragons Den would no doubt accuse him of being 1 dimensional. Indeed, the players can be excused as we are warming up to Vaughany’s Day, aka the 2012 Paralytic Games.

A quick turnaround at the interval and Sutton Courtenay needed a good start to knock off the required 145. But Hilless and Matthews couldn’t repeat the work of last week as both departed cheaply with poor strike rates thanks to some tight bowling from openers Nathan Redmond (0/10) and Allison (1/24). Last week’s batting hero Mahadevan also struggled with 17 before he was run out by another Rishton rocket from the boundary (Rishto being ivolved in run outs is becoming a regular occurrence) and that turned out to be the top score as the chase fizzled out with Ben Denton Powell bowling a highly economical spell (1/21). The damage was done by John Williams, who claimed 4 scalps and such was the regularity of falling wickets that each new batsmen came out to take their guard in gloomier and gloomier conditions. There was time for 2 more suicidal run outs and Jack Young claimed a good stumping as Mooring shuffled in his crease. Given that Mooring twice beat himself up last week (once with his bat, once with the ball) the nature of his dismissal made us convinced he was going to go mad on the long walk to the pavilion but to our surprise (and disappointment) none of last week’s temperament was on display. The SC innings was ended on the last ball to another Youngy stumping with Willo finishing with figures of 3-0-6-4 and off we trudged to our well earned takeaway dinner. The SC boys stayed again for some beers and it will be a shame not to play against a good crowd like them again, they are much better company than the Woolly Badgers, for example.

Congrats to the squad on a good season completed, and thanks once again to everyone who has chipped in opening up, umpiring, scoring, driving, on the bar and closing up shop. Midweek cricket has been a great success in my book. Greater integration between colts and seniors breaking down some of the barriers the youngsters might otherwise feel. Bar takings have averaged about £120 a home game. Players are more fine-tuned going into Saturdays and we’ve been to some fine opposition grounds and had some excellent food, ales and other beverages on our travels. We’ve had plenty of highlights – Felix’s demolition of Cold Ash; Nath’s trip up and cartoon-like roll on completing a 2nd run at Welford; Peter Spriggs’ various good knocks, Arthur Edwards’ Hollywood dismissals (always entertaining); we’ve seen modern Mongoose bats; old school 70s Duncan Fearnley bats; ancient batting pads with buckle straps; we’ve laughed as one lad asked for medium instead of middle when he took his guard; the aforementioned Mooring when he took his helmet off and clubbed himself over the head with his bat in frustration; we’ve had the strange tea at the Plough after the Kennet Pirates game, we’ve had the fantastic tea at the Castle Inn after the Cold Ash game; we had Ben Denton Powell writing in the score book “Thatcham won by 2 runs and 7 wickets”; we had Vince Monger pulling off a superman dive to save 4 at Welford; the team driving all the way to Steventon for a game that was already cancelled; the unfortunate Matt Taylor who was dispatched for about 30 in one over at Yattendon – all of them straight drives over long off (“bring the length back slightly Matty”); we had youngsters learning how to score for the first time; we saw the smile on the faces of BDP and Jona Spriggs when they first realised they could contribute in an adults game; and most crucially in terms of why we started this whole shebang - the major contribution to the successful season made by the youngsters with bat and ball. See you next year, hopefully in Div 2.


Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham XI- Wednesday Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
144		        
Eddie Wylie ct Walker 2 1
James O'Connor ct Nandy 20 1
John Williams ct Walker 19 3 1
Chris Rochfort ct Walker 22 3 1
Andy Rishton b Nandy 30 4 1
Jack Young b Hilless 4 1 2
Marcus Gainlall b Hilless 4 1 1
Tom Owen Not Out  16 2
Tom Allison Not Out  14 2
Ben Denton-Powell  
Nathan Redmond  

Sutton Courtenay Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Walker3.002538.338.33
Doel2.002400.0012.00
Dineen2.003000.0015.00
Woodley1.001600.0016.00
Nandy3.001125.503.67
Kelly1.001000.0010.00
Hilless3.0024212.008.00

Sutton Courtenay Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
97 (15.0 overs)		     
Hilless b Allison 9
Matthews b Owen 11
Patel ct Gainlall b. Denton Powell 6
Mahadevan run out (Rishton) 17
Doel b Williams 5
Nandy b Williams 3
Mooring st Williams 0
Kelly Run out  1
Walker st Williams 0
Woodbury Run out  10
Dineen Not Out  1

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham XI- Wednesday Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nathan Redmond3.001000.003.33
Tom Allison3.0024124.008.00
Ben Denton-Powell3.0021121.007.00
Tom Owen3.0022122.007.33
John Williams3.00641.502.00